The Land of the Dead

The one visit to the Duat of which a record remains was paid by Se-Osiris,
the wonderful child magician who read the sealed letter, and his father
Setna, the son of Pharaoh Rameses the Great.

They stood one day in the window of the palace at Thebes watching two
funerals on their way to the West. The first was that of a rich man: his
mummy was enclosed in a wooden case inlaid with gold; troops of servants
and mourners carried him to burial and bore gifts for the tomb, while many
priests walked in front and behind chanting hymns to the gods and reciting
the great names and words of power which he would need on his journey through
the Duat. - The second funeral was that of a poor laborer. His two sons
carried the simple wooden case: his widow and daughters-in-law were the
only mourners.

'Well,' said Setna, watching the two funerals going down to where the
boats were waiting to carry them across the Nile, 'I hope that my fate
will be that of the rich noble and not of the poor laborer.'

'On the contrary,' said Se-Osiris, 'I pray that the poor man's fate may
be yours and not that of the rich man!'

'I pray that the poor man's fate may be yours...'

Setna was much hurt by his son's words, but Se-Osiris tried to explain
them, saying, 'Whatever you may have seen here matters little compared
with what will chance to these two in the Judgement Hall of Osiris. I will
prove it to you, if you will trust yourself to me. I know the words of
power that open all gates: I can release your Ba and mine - our souls,
that can then fly into the Duat, the world of the dead, and see all that
is happening there. Then you will discover how different are the fates
of this rich man who has worked evil during his life, and this poor man
who has done nothing but good.'

Setna had learnt to believe anything the wonderful child said without
surprise, and now he agreed to accompany his son into the Duat, even though
he knew that such an expedition would be dangerous: for once there they
might not be able to return.

So the prince and the small boy made their way into the sanctuary of the
Temple of Osiris where, as members of the royal family, they had power
to go.

When Setna had barred the doors, Se-Osiris drew a magic circle round them
and round the statue of Osiris and round the altar on which a small fire
of cedar wood was burning. Then he threw a certain powder into the flame
upon the altar. Thrice he threw the powder, and as he threw it a ball of
fire rose from the altar and floated away. Then he spoke a spell and ended
with a great name of power, a word at which the whole temple rocked and
the flame on the altar leapt high, and then sank into darkness.

'[He] would have cried out in horror if the silence
had not pressed upon him like a weight that held him paralyzed.'

But the Temple of Osiris was not dark. Setna turned to see whence the
light came - and would have cried out in horror if the silence had not
pressed upon him like a weight that held him paralyzed.

For standing on either side of the altar he saw himself and his son Se-Osiris
only suddenly he knew that it was not his own body and the boy's for the
two bodies lay in the shadows cast by these two forms - the forms of their
Kas or doubles, and above each Ka hovered a tongue of flame which was its
Khou or spirit - and the clear, light of the Khou served to show its Ka
and the dim form of the body from which Ka and Khou were drawn.

Then the silence was broken by a whisper soft as a feather falling, yet
which seemed to fill the whole Temple with sound: 'Follow me now, my father,'
said the voice of Se-Osiris, 'for the time is short and we must be back
before the morning if we would live to see the Sun of Re rise again over
Egypt.

Setna turned, and saw beside him the Ba or soul of Se-Osiris - a great
bird with golden feathers but with the head of his son.

'I follow,' he forced his lips to answer; then, as the whisper filled
the Temple, he rose on the golden wings of his own Ba and followed the
Ba of Se-Osiris.

The temple roof seemed to open to let them through, and a moment later
they were speeding into the West swifter than an arrow from an Ethiopian's
bow.

Darkness lay over Egypt, but one red gash of sunset shone through the
great pass in the mountains of the Western Desert, the Gap of Abydos. Through
this they sped into the First Region of the Night and saw beneath them
the Mesektet Boat in which Re began his journey into the Duat with the
ending of each day. Splendid was the Boat, glorious its trappings, and
its colors were of amethyst and emerald, jasper and turquoise, lazuli and
the deep glow of gold. A company of the gods drew the Boat along the ghostly
River of Death with golden towing-ropes; the portals of the Duat were flung
wide, and they entered the First Region between the six serpents who were
curled on either side. And in the great Boat of Re journeyed the Kas of
all those who had died that day and were on their way to the judgement
Hall of Osiris.

So the Boat moved on its way through regions of night and thick darkness
and came to the portal of the Second Region. Tall were the walls on either
side, and upon their tops were the points of spears so that none might
climb over; the great wooden doors turned on pivots, and once again snakes
breathing fire and poison guarded them. But all who passed through on the
Boat of Re spoke the words of power decreed for that portal, and the doors
swung open.

The Second Region was the Kingdom of Re, and the gods and heroes of old
who had lived on earth when he was King dwelt there in peace and happiness,
guarded by the Spirits of the Corn who make the wheat and barley flourish
and cause the fruits of the earth to increase.

Yet not one of the dead who voyaged in the Boat of Re might pause there
or set foot on the land: for they must pass into Amenti, the Third Region
of the Duat where the judgement Hall of Osiris stood waiting to receive
them.

So the Boat came to the next portals, and at the word of power the great
wooden doors screamed open on their pivots - yet not so loudly did they
scream as the man who lay with one of the pivots turning in his eye as
punishment for the evil he had done upon earth.

Into the Third Region sailed the Boat of Re, and here the dead disembarked
in the outer court of the judgement Hall of Osiris. But the Boat itself
continued on its way through the nine other Regions of the Night until
the re-birth of Re from out of the mouth of the Dragon of the East brought
dawn once more upon earth and the rising of the sun. Yet the sun would
not rise unless each night Re fought and defeated the Dragon Apep, who
seeks ever to devour him in the Tenth Region of the Night.

The Ba of Setna and Se-Osiris did not follow the Boat of Re further, but
flew over the Kas of the newly dead who came one by one to the portal of
the Hall of Osiris and one by one were challenged by the Door-Keeper.

'Understander of Hearts is thy name,' answered each instructed Ka. 'Searcher
of Bodies is thy name!'

'Then to whom should I announce thee?' asked the Door-Keeper.

'Thou shouldst tell of my coming to the Interpreter of the Two Lands.'

'Who then is the Interpreter of the Two Lands?'

'It is Thoth the Wise God.'

So each Ka passed through the doorway and in the Hall Thoth was waiting
to receive him, saying: 'Come with me. Yet why hast thou come?'

'I have come here to be announced,' answered the Ka.

'What is thy condition?'

'I am pure of sin.'

'Then to whom shall I announce thee? Shall I announce thee to him whose
ceiling is of fire, whose walls are living serpents, whose pavement is
water?'

'Yes,' answered the Ka, 'announce me to him, for he is Osiris.'

So ibis-headed Thoth led the Ka to where Osiris sat upon his throne, wrapped
in the mummy-clothes of the dead, wearing the uraeus crown upon his forehead
and holding the scourge and the crook crossed upon his breast. Before him
stood a huge balance with two scales, and jackal-headed Anubis, god of
death, stepped forward to lead the Ka to the judgement.

'I am pure!I am pure!I am pure!I am pure!'

But before the Weighing of the Heart, each dead man's Ka spoke in his
own defense, saying: 'I am pure! I am pure! I am pure! I am pure! My purity
is as that of the Bennu bird, the bright Phoenix whose nest is upon the
stone persea-tree, the obelisk at Heliopolis.
Behold me, I have come to you without sin, without guilt, without evil,
without a witness against me, without one against whom I have taken action.
I live on truth and I eat of truth. I have done that which men said and
that with which gods are content. I have satisfied each god with that which
he desires. I have given bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing
to the naked and a boat to him who could not cross the River. I have provided
offerings to the gods and offerings to the dead. So preserve me from Apep,
the 'Eater-up of Souls', so protect me - Lord of the Atef-Crown, Lord of
Breath, great god Osiris.'

Then came the moment which the evil-doer feared but the good man welcomed
with joy.

Anubis took the heart out of the Ka that was the double of his earthly
body and placed it in the Scale; and in the other Scale was set the Feather
of Truth. Heavy was the heart of the evil-doer and it dragged down the
Scale: lower and lower it sank, while Thoth marked the angle of the beam
until the Scale sank so low that Ammit the Devourer of Hearts could catch
the sinner's heart in his jaws and bear it away. Then the evil-doer was
driven forth into the thick darkness of the Duat to dwell with Apep the
Terrible in the Pits of Fire.

But with the good man the Feather of Truth sank down and his heart rose
up, and Thoth cried aloud to Osiris and the gods, 'True and accurate are
the words this man has spoken. He has not sinned; he has not done evil
towards us. Let not the Eater-up of Souls have power over him. Grant that
the eternal bread of Osiris be given to him, and a place in the Fields
of Peace with the followers of Horus!'

Then Horus took the dead man by the hand and led him before Osiris, saying,
'I have come to thee, oh Unnefer Osiris, bringing with me this new Osiris.
His heart was true at the coming forth from the Balance. He has not sinned
against any god or any goddess. Thoth has weighed his heart and found it
true and righteous. Grant that there may be given to him the bread and
beer of Osiris; may he be like the followers of Horus!'

Then Osiris inclined his head, and the dead man passed rejoicing into
the Fields of Peace there to dwell, taking joy in all the things he had
loved best in life, in a rich land of plenty, until Osiris returned to
earth, taking with him all those who had proved worthy to live for ever
as his subjects.

All these things and more the Ba of Se-Osiris showed to the Ba of his
father Setna; and at length he said, 'Now you know why I wished your fate
to be that of the poor man and not of the rich man. For the rich man was
he in whose eye the pivot of the Third Door was turning - but the poor
man dwells for ever in the Fields of Peace, clad in fine robes and owning
all the offerings which accompanied the evil rich man to his tomb.'

Then the two Ba spread their golden wings and flew back through the night
to Thebes. There they re-entered their bodies which their Kas had been
guarding in the Temple of Osiris, and were able to return to their place
as ordinary, living father and child, in time to see the sun rise beyond
the eastern desert and turn the cliffs of Western Thebes to pink and purple
and gold as a new day dawned over Egypt.